Bollywood Journal: Bollywood Isn’t Necessarily a Bimbo

Last month, Lakshmi Chaudhry wrote a piece in Firstpost about a tendency of mainstream American film critics to value Hindi cinema for its pretty-but-dumb, razzle-dazzle entertainment. I’ve not been able to stop thinking about it, a tantalizing combination of my own native culture and the Hindi cinema I love.

My first reaction to the piece was mostly bemusement. For example, there are generalizations about what “American eyes” or the “American mind” (whatever that means for a diverse country of about 310 million people) do and don’t like about Bollywood, as well as a notable oversight of the legendary Roger Ebert, who screened Subhash Ghai’s “Taal” at his film festival in 2005.

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Then I became exasperated. The author seems to be saying that foreigners aren’t supposed to like masala for the same ingredients and appeals (like dance and star charisma) that filmmakers regularly include and apparently bank on. Or, to expand the idea tentatively, is the author suggesting that foreign audiences shouldn’t enjoy films for some of the same reasons that a native audience does?

But now, a dozen or so days since this article came out, I just feel sad. There’s an impression that a whole nation of movie-lovers has assigned a character to Hindi cinema that is far less complex and significant than it really is. I know what it’s like to be thought of as a bimbo abroad, coming from a culture represented by, and often assumed to be like, Pamela Anderson, the figure that Ms. Chaudhry refers to at the end of her article. It can sting when other people, especially those with a big audience, see you for something that you’re not. Most of us, I think, by nature are protective of how we are represented in and viewed by other cultures, and we hope for substantial and informed, discussions of our cultural output.

Ms. Chaudhry’s piece kicks off with a critique of Richard Corliss’s selection of “Devdas” at number eight on his list for Time of the top ten films of the millennium. I forget where, but I recently read a comment on a website that joked that one of greatest strengths of the Internet as a collective population is being angry at lists. Everybody makes them, and everybody argues about them. Why do we let ourselves get worked up over someone else’s subjective choices?

I am no fan of “Devdas” myself, but I agree with Mr. Corlis’s view that it is “a visual ravishment.” And more to the point, I don’t understand why his praise of some of the most cinematic elements of that film—costumes, sets, grandeur, emotional suffering—seems to be read as belittling and specifically so of Indian films. Mr. Corliss also praises “Avatar” at number three as a “sensational, seductive movie immersion.” Even just in this one short list, the Indian film is not the only one valued for doing “what fantasy is supposed to do.”

One of the points that I keep gnawing on is Ms. Chaudhry’s illumination of a problem that I have sensed bubbling in certain corners of the blogosphere for some time: “In the past—and much to our collective irritation—the only Indian cinema that earned any respect in the US was of the serious kind. Movie critics would swoon over the likes of Satyajit Ray, while disdaining our mainstream movies as over-the-top escapist trash. Finally, commercial Hindi movies are getting the respect they deserve… Well, ‘respect’ may be the wrong word. Bollywood is now the official bimbo of the international film scene. No one cares what our movies say as long as they look good and offer mindless fun.” Somewhere in the swirl of questions this complicated contradiction raises is the concept of “right,” or even “generally acceptable,” reasons to praise—or enjoy, be entertained by, or simply engage with—a movie.

Saving our swoons for Satyajit Ray was snobby, but now our squeals for Shah Rukh Khan, whether as superhero G.One or super-sulker Devdas, are problematic too? What subjects of cinematic affection and which expressions of that excitement are foreigners allowed? Short of scorn, dismissal or willful misunderstanding, is there really such a thing as a wrong way to like a movie? I sincerely hope not. Surely it is not surprising that American audiences respond positively to an “entertainment machine set to dazzle,” as New York Times critic Rachel Saltz described Ra.One, given how many of us grow up with Hollywood blockbusters as part of our diet.

Ms. Chaudhry ends with a depressing resignation: the message from mainstream U.S. critics is that “[Bollywood's] job on the international cinema stage is simple: look pretty and play dumb.” This sounds so hopeless. I would much rather consider the different ways that cinema can, and should, be valued as an expression of the glorious diversity of opinions and tastes. In an ideal world, the tendency to thoughtfully find something to enjoy and admire in a film that others regarded superficial and vapid should be encouraged. In films that are famously designed to appeal broadly, there is room for a lot of people to discover something they like. There are so many people around the world who love popular Indian cinema for all the things it is and may become. Smartness (and beauty and joy and etc….) is in the eye of the beholder, and it can be found in so many places if you’re willing to think of it in a diversity of ways.

And that’s why I value Ms. Chaudhry’s article. It got me thinking about taste and expectations, about native and foreign audiences, about opinions of opinions of films. No bimbo can do that.

Beth Watkins has been blogging for more than five years at Beth Loves Bollywood. She is an expert on Bollywood history and lore as well as contemporary movies and actors (that’s her on the left, with the Shah Rukh Khan action figure). You can follow Ms. Watkins on Twitter @bethlovesbolly.

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